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EveryParampara

Festivals and celebrations

The days a community stops, gathers and celebrates.

Festivals and celebrations are the days when a community stops its work, dresses up, eats together and makes noise. They may mark a season, a saint, a victory or just the pleasure of being together. From Carnival and Holi to Songkran and Oktoberfest, they show a place at its most generous and expressive. Many have religious roots, others are civic or seasonal, and a good number began as local fairs and grew famous. This page lists them by country, month and meaning, with notes on food, costume and music.

What makes a festival

Most festivals share a few features: a set date, a procession or gathering, special food, music and dance, a costume or colour, and an element of play. Some invert the usual order, letting servants command and the young tease the old, as at Carnival and Purim. Others are solemn, with lamps, silence or fasting. Whatever the tone, a festival gives people a shared memory, and the preparations, from cooking to costume making, are part of the pleasure.

Local and global

A festival that began in one village may now draw millions, and migrants carry festivals to new countries, where they take on new forms. Diwali is celebrated in London and Singapore, St Patrick's Day in Buenos Aires and Tokyo, Lunar New Year in Sydney and New York. At the same time, many small local festivals survive, and EveryParampara records these too, because a village fair is as much a part of the world's heritage as a great carnival.

About this page

Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Festivals and celebrations (kind of tradition). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
MealBreakfastLunchDinnerSupperTea-time and snacking customsTea, coffee and drinking ceremoniesSweets given and sharedFeasts and festival mealsFasting and breaking the fast
🇮🇳 IndiaSanjhi Autumn devotion honoring a mother goddess and sacred floor art of Radha and KrishnaSpiritual 🇮🇳 India and 5 moreThimithiதீமிதி A South Indian firewalking festival honouring Draupadi Amman before DeepavaliSpiritual 🇮🇳 India and 1 moreChapchar KutChapchâr Kût A spring festival of dance and food kept by the Mizo people in Mizoram, India.Festival 🇮🇳 Sambalpur, IndiaSitalsasthiଶୀତଳ ଷଷ୍ଠୀ A festival in western Odisha re-enacting the divine wedding of Shiva and ParvatiFestival 🇮🇳 Ahobilam, IndiaNarasimha Jayantiनरसिंहजयंती A one-day Hindu festival marking Vishnu's man-lion avatar and the rescue of PrahladaSpiritual 🇮🇳 IndiaAhoi Ashtami A day of fasting by Hindu mothers before Diwali, for their children's wellbeingFestival · Fasting and breaking the fast 🇮🇳 Baripada, IndiaChhau dance A masked dance of eastern India, blending martial steps with epic storiesPerformance 🇧🇩 BangladeshEid prayersصلاة العيد The yearly festival prayer of the two Eids, offered in the morning by MuslimsSpiritual 🇮🇳 IndiaSheetala Ashtami A day for the goddess Shitala, kept eight days after Holi with food cooked in advanceSpiritual 🇮🇳 IndiaSadyaസദ്യ A vegetarian feast from Kerala, served on a banana leaf at Onam, Vishu and weddingsTable custom · Lunch 🇦🇫 Mazar-i-Sharif, AfghanistanNowruzنوروز The Afghan spring new year, celebrated with picnics, wheat pudding and dried fruit.Seasonal · Feasts and festival meals 🇵🇰 PakistanChilam Joshi A spring festival of music, dance, and prayers celebrated by the Kalash peopleFestival 🇵🇰 PakistanShandur Polo Festivalشندور چوگان میلہ A three-day mountain polo competition played with freestyle rules in northern PakistanGame 🇳🇵 Bhaktapur, NepalBiska Jatra𑐧𑐶𑐳𑑂𑐎𑐵𑑅 𑐖𑐵𑐟𑑂𑐬𑐵 An annual solar new year festival in Nepal with chariot pulls and tall wooden poles.Festival 🇱🇰 Mihintale, Sri LankaPoson A Sri Lankan Buddhist festival marking the ancient arrival of Buddhism on the islandSpiritual 🇮🇳 Mumbai, IndiaDahi Handi A Hindu festival sport where teams build human towers to break suspended curd potsFestival 🇮🇳 Haridwar, IndiaKumbh MelaKumbha Mēlā A major Hindu riverside pilgrimage held across four rotating holy cities in IndiaSpiritual 🇮🇳 Krishnanagar, IndiaJagaddhatri Puja A Hindu festival for the world-bearing goddess, kept in West Bengal each autumnSpiritual 🇵🇰 Pakistan and 3 moreChaand Raatचाँद रात, چاند رات The South Asian night of moon-sighting and celebration before EidFestival 🇵🇰 Lahore, PakistanMela Chiraghanمیلہ چراغاں A three-day Lahore festival honouring the sixteenth-century Sufi poet Shah Hussain.Spiritual 🇮🇳 India and 2 morePandal Temporary decorated pavilions and arches built for festivals and gatheringsFestival 🇱🇰 Anuradhapura, Sri LankaSinhala New Yearඅලුත් අවුරුද්ද The April solar New Year and harvest festival celebrated across Sri LankaSeasonal 🇵🇰 Lahore, Pakistan and 1 moreBasant A Punjabi spring festival marked by rooftop kite flying, yellow clothing and fairsFestival · Sweets given and shared 🇮🇳 Pushkar, IndiaPushkar FairKartik Mela An annual camel and livestock fair with lake pilgrimage rites in Rajasthan, IndiaFestival 🇧🇩 Dhaka, BangladeshPohela Falgunপহেলা ফাল্গুন A Bangladeshi festival welcoming the first day of spring with music and flowersSeasonal 🇮🇳 IndiaPushkaram A river worship festival rotating across twelve sacred Indian rivers over twelve yearsSpiritual 🇮🇳 IndiaVat PurnimaVaṭapūrṇimā An annual Hindu festival where married women fast and pray around a banyan treeSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast 🇮🇳 Hyderabad, India and 3 moreBonalu An annual festival of thanksgiving to Goddess Mahakali across Telangana, IndiaFestival · Feasts and festival meals 🇮🇳 Amritsar, IndiaBandi Chhor Divasਬੰਦੀ ਛੋੜ ਦਿਵਸ A Sikh festival of liberation marking the release of Guru Hargobind and fifty-two princes from Mughal imprisonment.Festival 🇮🇳 Madurai, IndiaMeenakshi TirukalyanamChithirai Thiruvizha A two-week festival in Madurai celebrating the divine wedding of Meenakshi and Shiva.Festival 🇮🇳 Ujjain, India and 1 moreVikram Samvatविक्रमसंवत् A lunisolar Hindu calendar of Nepal and India, its years counted 57 ahead of the GregorianSeasonal 🇳🇵 NepalMha Pujaम्हपुजा A Newar New Year ritual of self-worship, mandalas and renewal in NepalSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals 🇮🇳 Varanasi, India and 5 moreRamlilaरामलीला Open-air community plays staged across autumn nights, recounting the journey of Rama.Performance 🇮🇳 Madurai, IndiaJallikattuஜல்லிக்கட்டு A traditional bull-embracing event held during harvest celebrations in Tamil NaduGame 🇮🇳 Puri, IndiaNabakalebaraନବ କଳେବର (Navakalevara) A rare ritual in Puri where the wooden idols of four Hindu deities are replaced with new carvings every twelve to nineteSpiritual 🇵🇰 PakistanPakistani weddingپاکستانی شادی Weddings across Pakistan: a match is found, a contract signed, two families joinedRite of passage 🇮🇳 Palani, India and 5 moreKavadi Aattamகாவடி ஆட்டம் Tamil devotees of Murugan carry burdens as a vow during ThaipusamSpiritual 🇮🇳 India and 5 moreNativity of Mary A Christian feast day honouring the birth of Mary, the mother of JesusSpiritual · Lunch 🇮🇳 Delhi, India and 1 moreIndependence Day A public holiday on 15 August marking the end of British rule in India in 1947Ceremony 🇮🇳 India and 1 moreYajnaयज्ञ A Hindu ritual of offering items into a sacred fire to honor deities and ancestors.Spiritual 🇮🇳 New Delhi, IndiaGandhi Jayanti India's annual holiday on 2 October, for Mahatma Gandhi's birth and nonviolenceCeremony 🇮🇳 Madurai, India and 4 morePuthanduபுத்தாண்டு (Puttāṇṭu) The first day of the Tamil solar calendar, celebrated by Tamils with family feasts and auspicious trays.Festival · Feasts and festival meals 🇵🇰 Islamabad, Pakistan and 1 morePakistan Dayیومِ پاکستان Pakistan's national day on 23 March: the 1940 Lahore Resolution and the 1956 constitutionCeremony 🇧🇩 Dhaka, Bangladesh and 1 moreVictory Dayবিজয় দিবস Bangladesh's national day on 16 December, marking the 1971 surrender that made the stateCeremony 🇦🇫 Kabul, AfghanistanAfghan Independence Dayد افغانستان د خپلواکۍ ورځ (Pashto); روز استقلال افغانستان (Dari) Afghanistan's national day, kept on 19 August for the treaty of 1919Ceremony 🇮🇳 India and 4 moreYouth Day A commemorative holiday honoring young people and youth movements worldwideCeremony 🇮🇳 New Delhi, IndiaKargil Vijay Diwas An annual Indian observance honouring soldiers and the end of the Kargil War.Ceremony 🇮🇳 Chandigarh, India and 3 moreGuru Nanak Gurpurabਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਗੁਰਪੁਰਬ The birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, kept with processions, hymns and a shared mealSpiritual
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Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly EveryParampara

Every week: one tradition from somewhere new, what is being celebrated around the world this week, and one idea explained.